Literacy is the ability to read and write at a level to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential. Learning to read and write at primary school provides the foundation for pupils' future learning. Children who do not adequately learn to read and write become discouraged and de-motivated. Poor literacy skills, particularly at Key Stage 2, can contribute to poor behaviour and attendance, resulting in pupils falling even further behind. Tackling literacy now prevents the slide into further deterioration when pupils go to secondary school.

Numeracy is having the confidence and ability to handle numbers and measures. It requires an understanding of the number system, a range of computational skills and ability to solve number problems in a variety of contexts. Numeracy also demands practical understanding of the ways in which information is gathered by counting and measuring, and is presented in graphs, diagrams, charts and tables.

What is literacy?

What is numeracy?

The government introduced the National Curriculum in 1988 to ensure that teaching standards are universally consistent. It sets out what children should know and be able to do at certain stages during their schooling. The National curriculum sets out the most important knowledge and skills that every child has a right to learn. It gives standards that measure how well children are doing in each subject so teachers can monitor achievement and plan to help them do even better.

The National Curriculum says when things must be taught by describing broad 'Key Stages'. The chart below shows the different Key Stages, and when national tests and tasks are set. At the end of Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 your child will take national tests and tasks, popularly called 'SATs' (Standard Assessment Tasks). At the end of Key Stage 4, they will sit national examinations, often GCSEs.

What is the National Curriculum?

What are Key Stages and SATs?

Usually primary schooling                            Usually secondary schooling

The 11+ is a selective entry examination for grammar and private schools that children sit during their school Year 6. For some Local Education Authorities (LEAs), the 11+ is available for all Year 6 children and the exam is taken during the school day in their primary school. In other parts of the country, the 11+ is organised by the selective and private schools and the exam is taken after school or on a weekend and takes place at the senior school.

What is11+?

The 11+ exam differs throughout the country in terms of subjects taken and when they are taken (usually in Oct for Bexley LEA). There are four subjects that can be tested in the 11+ exam. The subjects are verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and maths. Although the maths and English tests tend to follow the National Curriculum, the verbal and non-verbal reasoning tests are not school-based subjects.

For SATs Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 they cover the core subjects Literacy, Numeracy and Science. By the end of year 9, pupils choose options to be added to the core subjects to start the 2 years GCSE courses.

SATs are important as an indicator of future performance, and more controversially, are seen to be an indicator of how well primary schools are performing relative to others in the league tables. A child’s Key Stage 1 results can give early signs of educational problems. Key Stage 2 results are often used by secondary schools for setting the new year 7 intake classes. Key Stage 3 results are for setting year 10 (GCSE) classes.

What subjects are tested in SATs?

Why are SATs results important?

FAQs

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